Introducing you to Steve and The HUB

This Blog is an effort to communicate with friends of The HUB and Steve.

The HUB is a restaurant in Snohomish, Washington.

Steve is the owner with his wife Noreen. They have owned the restaurant for twenty-two years.

Steve loves the restaurant business but has other interests as well. This space will allow Steve (me) to talk about food, customer service, tipping practices which are restaurant related to politics on all levels, community activities ranging from our little town to the county and state.

I will introduce readers to my family, my staff, my friends and customers and others that may not be personal aquaintances but are thought of as friends and then the others that we are not fond of at all.

My interest in politics has roots in community activism. I served as a volunteer on the City Board of Adjustment between 1986 and 1989. I was hooked then and ran for city council in 1989. I served on the council between 1990 and 1997. During that time, I was elected to the position of Mayor three times. In a city like ours, that constitutes two year terms as city council president. I really enjoyed my years on the council. I learned a lot and met a bunch of really nice people who were as passionate about their city as I was about mine.

My business is a small seventy seat restaurant in Snohomish, Washington. The current restaurant was built in 2003, but our origin was as an old fashion drive in. My mother and father owned and operated the old place from 1960 until 1985. I grew up in that old place and when they decided to retire, Noreen and I decided to step up our committment to the HUB. We bought the drive in from my parents in April of 1985 and have been on a roller coaster ride since then. We knocked down the old building in 2003 to build the new restaurant that would allow us to provide the products and services we always wanted to in the old place, but couldn't.

We have one daughter, Shelly. She has no husband, but two young sons. Occasionally, I will mention our little grandsons Big Boy and Auggie Doggie.

Our restaurant has a staff of about twenty. Occasionally, I will talk about groups of staff members or individual staff members. Some of them have become great friends, others have become a pain.

Our restaurant serves a market of about thirty thousand. In that market, we have a customer base of about six thousand customers we know by name. The compelling reason we stayed in the restaurant business is our ongoing relationships with our customers. My family is pretty small, but my restaurant family puts me in league like a good Italian family.

Our restaurant is a place where we can meet old friends, make new friends and introduce old friends to new friends. This place is much more than a food place.

During the next few days I will try to assemble my thoughts about why I think I need a blog. I will try to set it up so I can ramble a little and you can respond to my rambling. I look forward to the possibilities.